


Folly

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Legend (1985)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-14
Updated: 2007-12-14
Packaged: 2018-01-25 02:16:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1626278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because purity of heart is not always a blessing. Oona watches Lily dance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Folly

**Author's Note:**

> I hadn't actually seen Legend before this year's Yuletide. Hope you enjoy it :)
> 
> Written for Rabbit

 

 

O, ever beauteous, ever friendly! tell!

Is it, in heaven, a crime to love too well!

\- Alexander Pope, _Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady_

The hearts of mortals were such fickle things. Ruled by a torrent of emotions, they were left at the mercy of feelings like ( _love?_ ) regret and sadness. Emotion overwhelmed them and made them ignorant, no better than children. It was that ignorance that invited disaster, for selfishness and ignorance marched hand in hand. And now, for one girl's ignorance ( _innocence?_ ) the light itself would be extinguished.

To a mortal, the concept was terrible but abstract - a 'world without light' was, at its depths, an incomprehensible notion. The mortal heart and soul were not able to grasp such a concept; even the most jaded mortal was far too innocent to understand such an idea. They could only know the physical effect of such a loss - endless darkness, a sun that would never rise again. For a mortal, 'eternal night' was equal parts whimsical and horrifying, an unreal concept.

Not so for the forest-dwellers. Darkness everlasting was not just physical, it was spiritual, immaterial, an existence which the mortal mind could never fully experience, let alone understand. The chaos and madness, the perversion of the very order of life. The death of innocence as the tendrils of darkness clawed at the heart and muted the soul. Every living creature cast into a state of eternal despair. A mortal could never understand that.

Although Princess Lily, should she survive her encounter with Darkness, may have a chance at it. So this was the mortal whose innocence ( _ignorance?_ ) had bewitched ( _won?_ ) Jack's heart. They were ( _im_ )perfectly matched, the same purity deep within them both. Princess Lily had been a fool for touching the unicorn - Jack had been equally so for taking her there without due warning. Alone, their purity was charming. Together, it was a force to be reckoned with, for childish wonder could so often lead to acts of great ignorance. Acts which fate would hold one accountable for. Princesses, it seemed, were no exception to such a rule, no matter how pure their hearts and innocent their intentions. Princess Lily was paying the price.

As she gazed through the doorway, Oona knew immediately that she should call for Jack, let him know of his love's safety. It may have been a moment of petty spite that caused her to remain, or simple curiousity ( _such a terribly mortal trait_ ) at what grim fate had befallen the cause of their woe. Oona bore the princess no personal spite, but her responsibility was unquestionable. And perhaps, just a small part of her was curious to see what allure to Jack lay in the heart of such a stupidly innocent child. An innocence that could never be imitated even in the truest of illusions.

Then, as Princess Lily began to dance, Oona forgot all thoughts of responsibility, and innocence, of kisses that never were and never would be. Lily's dance was transfixing all its macabre chaos, an innocent ( _foolish_ ) girl now so bewitched by the darkness that she herself had inadvertently wrought. Her movements were jerky and frenzies, fear and delirium etched clear in her eyes. Her gown as black as night, her current state a mockery of the naïve child she had been until so very recently.

She had brought this upon herself. Fate had chosen a particularly ironic punishment for the girl whose foolish innocence may have ushered in eternal darkness - a loss of her own innocence. Her fate would mirror the fate of the world itself. It was poetic justice, yet it was ( _why was it so_ ) cruel as she danced, a helpless marionette on Darkness' strings. Oona could only imagine -and found that she did not want to- what mad visions could be seen through Lily's eyes.

And so, it was with a strange sense of pity ( _jealousy?_ ) and disgust ( _resentment?_ ) that Oona watched the death of innocence. It was, at once, beautiful ( _oh how her gown flowed as she spun_ ) and sickening ( _and delirious confusion flashed in her eyes once more_ ), just ( _for through selfish ignorance, the responsibility was hers_ ) and cruel ( _and she was so, so sorry, more grief and regret than words could ever express_ ). In a fleeting moment of pity ( _sympathy?_ ), Oona thought that perhaps she should intervene - but no, she would rather avoid bringing Darkness' ire to herself personally if it were at all possible. Certainly not for the sake of this girl, this naïve, pitiful child who had wrought so much pain with her thoughtlessness. With her _love_.

Mortals could never understand the concept of a world of eternal darkness, but then again, Oona could never understand the concept of love - not the same love that mortals felt, at least. There was desire, and a different kind of love, but the sheer innocence of mortal love was unmatched. It was Lily's love that had brought her to this place, and Lily's lover ( _for he was so determined to save her, heart and mind so consumed_ ) who would bring them all out of it. Whether the fallen ( _beautiful_ ) princess would be able to claw her way out of the dark ( _from the arms of Darkness_ ) was something that only fate would decide. An innocent heart, coupled with the regrets of a foolish child, stood a dim chance.

It had been Princess Lily's love that had created the situation - her naiveté, her selfishness, how she had been so drawn to the unicorns and blinded by that innocent desire. Jack's love for her had only complicated measures - if his heart had been more hard, his mind more steeled with reason, he would have physically restrained her, stopped her somehow. But he loved the princess so dearly, and could only allow her to have her way.

If this were the outcome of mortal love, then perhaps Jack's refusal to kiss her had been a mixed blessing. Such innocent and mindless devotion ( _mortal love was immortal madness_ ) could only lead to ruin in the end.

 


End file.
